A Sleeper Business: Mattress Testing

October 12, 1986|By BOB WIEDRICH, Chicago Tribune

SYCAMORE, Ill. -- Helen Yurs makes her living testing mattresses. So does her husband, Robert.

And so do the 17 men and women, mostly college students, who are ``bedding consultants`` for Rayco Engineering Inc., the firm Mrs. Yurs founded in this small northern Illinois town three years ago to respond to consumer complaints with prompt bedside service.

From humble, part-time beginnings in 1983, Mrs. Yurs` unique small business has grown to an enterprise with a six-figure annual gross, operating in seven Midwestern states.

She represents four major mattress manufacturers. She expects to sign up two other bedding makers soon. And she plans to expand the service nationally and into Canada in the next year or so.

As far as the National Association of Bedding Manufacturers knows, Rayco Engineering is the only firm in the country engaged in the relatively obscure art of testing mattresses in a consumer`s home.

Mrs. Yurs, the firm`s president, and her husband, the chairman of the board, still make service calls, despite their lofty titles. However, neither will bounce or jump up and down on mattresses to determine their structural integrity. Nor will any of the other service representatives perform similar gymnastics to satify customer demands.

But they will poke and prod and otherwise investigate to determine if the coils and stitching are intact or if there are any defects that would justify honoring the lengthy warranties that most mattress makers offer to demonstrate their products` durability.

``A majority of our calls involve problems that are not the fault of the mattress,`` Mrs. Yurs said.

``Usually, it`s either the box spring, the bed frame or the failure of the customer to regularly turn over the mattress that is to blame. If the box spring is squeaking, we can usually solve that with a shot of silicon lubricant. Rarely do we find a defect.``

Mrs. Yurs began working out of her home part-time as a service representative for the Sealy Mattress Co. of Illinois in November, 1983. At first, she only covered the South Side of Chicago, but soon found that mattress buyers were delighted with her prompt response to service calls.

Later, she expanded the business and recruited assistants by posting notices on the employment bulletin boards of Midwestern colleges and universities.

Now, she has a stable of workers, mostly graduate students, who are paid $100 to $200 a day part-time.